Can crowdfund be the answer to China’s animation problem? It was for Nanocore, China’s latest hit animation series that used fans to fund the beautiful 3D series.
While the budget of Chinese dramas have shot through the roof in the past decade, Chinese animations for the most part have remained at the Pleasant Goat level. The highly anticipated Big Fish has been stuck forever in the post-production stage due to lack of funding. One group of young animators used the Internet to be both its funding and stage. Coastline Animation Studio begun to crowdfund its multi-season project Nanocore 纳米核心 online with a preview, and reached its target of 1 million RMB in less than week . The show is released for free online via major Internet streaming websites. So far, six episodes have been released.
Set on planet Birthingin, Nanocore focuses on an unlikely group of friends – humans, mutants, Asars (genetically modified humans) – as they’re caught between a war for control of technology that could determine the fate their world.
The graphics are quite impressive. The plot is a bit slow to get to the point, but so far the pace has been interesting enough to make up for that.
Watch episode 1 below and subbed here. Character profiles and world set-up below the cut.